The 700 Credit Score - Is 700 a Good Credit Score?

A 700 credit score is more common that you might think. This score puts you in the medium risk category for creditors. What does that mean? It means that you will get good interest rates on most loans and credit cards.

Is 700 a good credit score? It is definitely a good credit score. It shows that you have taken efforts to build a good credit history and have good habits when it comes to managing your debt. As we had mentioned this score is fairly common and you can reach this score without difficulty if you are lower than this. If you are 700 or slightly higher, you can still take steps to boost your score. Increasing your scores by around 30-50 points can save you 1000's if not 100s of 1000s of dollars over the long term. So, you must be wondering about two things - why is my credit history so important? and how do I raise my score and start making changes today? Lets address these one at a time.

Home Line Of Credit

Why is building a good credit history important? Your creditors have to assess the risk you pose when they loan you money. The better your credit history (no late payments, no collection activity and a record of making payments on time), the better your credit score will be. Need to buy a house? Want a student loan? Looking to open an equity line of credit to finance home renovation? When you go to a bank or other financial institution to discuss your options, whats the first thing they will look at before making a decision. Thats right - your credit score (which is essentially based on your credit history).

The 700 Credit Score - Is 700 a Good Credit Score?

Now, lets discuss the other side of things. How do you raise your credit score? There are a few specific actions you can take:

1) Get your 3-in-1 credit score

Get your scores from all three bureaus - Equifax, Transunion and Experian. Most creditors will take the median score from all three agencies. When you get your scores, you will realize that your credit report from the three agencies doesn't look the same. Were you very late on a rent check? Did you pay that library fine on time? For some late payments the chances are you would be reported to only one of the bureaus.

2) Make a list of ALL your credit accounts

Create an excel spreadsheet of all your credit cards, real estate accounts, home loans or any other debt that you have. Track the monthly payments you are making in this spreadsheet along with the interest rates and the balances owed. Then use online payments to automate paying off atleast the minimum payments towards these balances. You can't afford to fall behind from this point on. The other benefit to this form of tracking is the motivation you get from seeing your loan amounts shrink.

The 700 Credit Score - Is 700 a Good Credit Score?